The Road From Bristol

If you're into sports, it's likely that you watch ESPN.. at least from time to time. You most likely have come to appreciate many of the network's reporters and studio personalities. That said, you probably have a few you really, really dislike, too. There's an online tournament that pits the personalities against each other to find out who, above all others, is the most disliked personality on the network. Even the regional brackets were named after the "big sports" favorites of the network: Cowboys regional, Yankees-Red Sox regional, Lakers regional, and the Duke regional. It's all the teams they can't stop talking about!

They're only in the second round, now, but there's a PDF bracket you can fill out while your at the Road From Bristol site. Here's mine:



espn_bracket.png (click for a readable, large version)

I let my distaste for Skip Bayless run strong to the final, and everyone thinks ill of Dick Vitale. I even let Stuart Scott with all of his booyah'ing and such make it to the round of eight, but I had to let Sean Salisbury go.

Hope that makes you proud, Quentin.

C'mon, People!

People, I know it's annoying, but it's just email. All you have to do is hit the delete key!

Russia's Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered

Feelin' Hot Hot Hot

Today's weather indicator:



The fact they even have that icon kind of bothers me.

Interestingly enough, I want to switch into long sleeves, because I'm right underneath this vent that's pumping out freeze.

Shocking Upset!

Today was my dad's birthday and I think he really appreciated his gifts. He's taken to walking in evenings to try and get in better shape and he's always so hard to buy for, so Mom and I keyed in on this, this year. She thought to get him a pedometer so he can measure his walking distance and I had purchased an iPod mini for him (green 4GB) and pre-loaded about a gig-plus of his music onto the family computer and his iPod. It was personalized: "Happy Birthday, Dad / Vintage 1951" and I think he really enjoyed it. I hope he can put it to good use and it'll make his exercise regimen take hold. Rumor has it he's going to try to quit smoking again and I know he can do it.

The annual miniature golf "tournament" was today, as well. As you know if you read this blog, I've never outright won the event. In 2002, I tied with Dad (52) to beat Mom who was close back (54). That is easily the best I've ever done. I normally threaten to win early on, and then watch my game spin horribly out of control from around 10 to 16, then I get angry and completely manhandle 17 and 18. It's awful. For those of you thinking we take this too seriously... you are correct, especially considering none of the participants are truly that great at golf (miniature or otherwise). Mom is normally ruthless and steals the show, often winning by several strokes. Dad typically follows and sometimes wins, and I trail way behind.

Different story, this year. I hit a 46, which is unheard of for this family. We were all close until I hit a 1-shot around the middle and started to pull away. I'd clinched the win with two holes to go, giving me enough to be happy about and gloat over for at least... oh about two days. Here was the table:

Colin - 46
Mom - 51
Dad - 52

The par is always 36, but that's pretty ridiculous.. you should see this course. There's very little chance for even the most seasoned of mini-golf vets to strike a 36. Anywhere in the forties is pretty spectacular for our group.

I am happy.

What is awesome

The new computer is awesome. I can tell you that much. I'm finally online using it (still at home with the slow internet, but nonetheless). I can do so much with this thing, the monitor is gorgeous and doesn't give me headaches... I just am crazy about it in general, thus far. Everything just works and it works beautifully.

Now to prepare some secret gifts for my dad's birthday this Monday and to prepare for the annual miniature golf tournament. I'm vowing to really win, this year. I can't let my temper get the best of me. Who do I think I am the last couple of years? McEnroe!? I hope to come out on top.

More later.

Hockey is back on

The NHL board voted (as expected) to put the new collective bargaining agreement into effect for this season. We'll have hockey come October! There going to be some sweeping rule changes. The NHL has a new logo (it's all over the revamped league website). And today there's going to be a lottery to determine the order for the draft. It's hard to believe that every team has a chance to be low in the draft order.

It's an exciting time for hockey fans. We finally can focus on hockey... and there'll be lots of news between now and the season starting with players moving all over the place. It will be just enough to keep me going until football season, and then we'll be back in the thick of the sports year before you know it!

Oh awesomeness. I would celebrate by doing some twirly thing with my Flyers foundation bracelet, but Kristin has it from last night. I think it may be time to don the Phantoms bracelet. I can now focus on the "dream." Heh.

Also... there's not very much work, today. I've finished my projects and it's Friday. It seems a lot of people didn't come in and the attitude in the office is very chill, today. Some people were playing Nerf football catch a little while ago... nice.

It Has Arrived

Since I'm very slow moving in the morning, I wasn't yet out of the house when the beautiful iMac arrived. Knowing it would be wise to move the box somewhere and just head out the work, I opened the computer with Mom and configured and everything anyway.

So now it's back at home, waiting for me to throw as much data at it as I can. Full geek mode may very well be acheived, this evening.

Finished...

I finished reading the latest Harry Potter novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt like it was taking its good time setting things up and just making sure to keep the mood tense, but when things started happening, it was a frightful whirlwind. I don't feel that Harry's year at Hogwarts has been as dark in its finale as in "Goblet of Fire," in which a dark wizard must personally remove his own hand to provide required bits to restore the Dark Lord to power. "Half-Blood Prince" does, however, touch on topics that are more real and lean towards some very human fears -- more than any of the previous novels.

I didn't want to finish last night, actually. I wanted to leave myself about 100 pages for today, but the book had hit its point of no return (something every previous Harry book has also done to me) and I just had to know the conclusion. Each chapter is a terrible cliffhanger that prevents anyone from breaking off cleanly for sleep.

I've got to make sure a lot of the details of this one stick in the brain. I think I will attempt a massive Harry rereading sometime during the fall. Maybe.

Ug

This is the picture they took of me for the employee profile directory at CNET:




How unfortunate! I look high. This is not unlike my first license photo, which looked extra stupid considering I was turned 3/4 to the right! I think one of my teeth is sparkling. They should've used the last staff photo I posed for:




Now that's nice.

HBP

Just past page 400. It's pretty interesting, thus far, but it seems like very little has happened. As that's the case, there must be a fairly large amount of action going on in the final third of the story!

There's a good article on all the anti-Christianity crap that gets slung with each Harry Potter release. Here's a quote:

"There really are folks walking this Earth who can suck the joy right out of you, but they aren't dementors. They're our own dysfunctional relatives and friends."

-- Betty DeRamus, Detroit News

=w=

Returned today from a trip to visit with Kaes and check out the Atlantic City Weezer show. The trip was great and the show was incredible. Weezer is pretty well known for remaining fairly stationary during their shows, but tonight it was obvious the band was really into it. Scott was rocking the bass as usual, frequently tossing picks into the crowd and interacting with people in the front. Rivers, even, bantered with the crowd between songs and really shredded each of his solos. He'd kind of get into a guitar trance, rather than just standing there like was his popular "move" when I saw them in Philadelphia two months ago.

The show was great, it was excellent to see Kasey, and cute girls who happened to be from UD talked to me. Ooooh. I was lame, though.

Perhaps more on the show later, but for now I've got to grab a late shower and then figure out the arrangements for the Potter book release tonight.

Thank the Gods of Sports Legislature!

There will be hockey in 2005-06. The latest.

Tropical Nomenclature

I think when your name is on the list of potential names for tropical storms, it's kind of an award to your name. Hurricane and tropical storms are named from a list that has one name for each letter of the alphabet (exceping Q, U, X, Y, and Z). In the order they occur, the storms are given the next name in the list. For example, this year we have thus far seen tropical storms Arlene, Bret, Cindy, and Dennis. Emily will be the name of the next storm this year. The list of names is compiled years ahead of time (not unlike the selection of an olympic host city) and in recent years the international weather organizations have included a fair number of popular names, but have dipped into less popular names.

Names like Colin. We made the list, my fellow Colins. In 2010, barring the most inactive hurricane season ever, we will see a named tropical storm Colin.

Not as rare a name as it used to be, Colin still is a difficult name to find when shopping for novelty license plates, name tags, et cetera. With that lacking still out there, it's nice to see some love from the tropical storm naming organizations. If you're interested, here are some other interesting names we should see in the future:

• 2005: Gert, Ophelia
• 2006: Isaac, Nadine, Oscar
• 2007: Chantal, Humberto, Ingrid, Rebekah (note the spelling!)
• 2008: Bertha, Cristobal, Paloma
• 2009: Claudette, Joaquin, Odette
• 2010: Igor, Otto, Sharie

For a listing of all the names for 2005 to 2010, check out the National Weather Service list of Tropical Cyclone Names.

Blood On Bread

Saw Dave's latest outfit Cheese on Bread play a show last night. It was the best show I have ever been to (while not an exhaustive list to be at the top of, it's still cool to be the best at something). They played with The Bloodsugars -- who should be rocking Madison Square Garden they're so talented. Those two bands are currently on tour, and you should check them out. Buy their CDs.

Also, Dave has a new CD. He goes by Dibs these days. Dibs' new CD is thus far wonderful. And Mike Volf (who these days goes by Misha) did the bulk of the studio work on the album and it shows -- the tracks I've heard thus far are flawless.

There were two other bands that played last night. The first, who I believe were called the Unparabels (is that a word? does that make sense?) were okay, but noticeably out of practice. Most of their stuff was unoriginal, but they had good stage presence for a duo. The second band, though, was Crayon Rosary. I did not pick up their CD because I forgot to find them when I was leaving, but their songs were excellent. They had a raw energy in their performance that really carried each tune. Also, it should from now on go without saying that any group employing children's toys as legitimate pieces of their composition has my vote. Their songs were about familiar topics, but maintained originality in their voice. Both members of the duo were very capable with their instruments (be it guitar, keyboard, children's Sesame Street piano, or little-kid "electric" guitar). I'd recommend them to anyone.

The show was free at Art House in New Brunswick. It was awesome.

Wishlist Revisited

I posted a wishlist of things I "would like to find a way to buy" on this blog recently. I still stand by that list. But I've got some changes to make. Here's a list of things on my mind:

1. iMac G5 (still, will probably happen before returning to school)
   
2. Disc golf 3-disc starter set (driver, midrange, putter)
3. Frames for my remaining healthy posters
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (next weekend)
5. Classic film posters or artwork, framed (Stalag 17, Jaws, The Ladykillers, etc.)
6. A new alarm clock (one that can be easily read)
   

I also have things I hope to or am considering selling (either on eBay or wherever). It would be nice to see that someone could put them to better use. Here's a list of some of those things:

1. Old TI-81 graphic calculator (with manual & batteries)
2. TI-86 graphic calculator (maybe I won't part with this before grad school is over)
3. XBox (Sometimes I think I don't use it enough to keep it)
4. XBox Games - Madden, FIFA, ESPN College Hoops, DoomIII SE, Silent Hill 4, Wallace and Gromit (wouldn't need these without the XBox)
5. Guitar (I have not taken the strides necessary to learn and am not sure how willing I am to invest that time)
6. Digital Camera - Olympus D510Z, 2.1MP (if I ever end up getting a replacement, this would still give a starter some valuable photos very inexpensively)

Not sure about most of that stuff. I also like to say I'm going to clean those things out and be good about it all, but am most likely kidding myself. All of those things on my "possibly to sell" list are still really useful and I still find value in them, which means it's probably the case I'll keep everything but the TI-81, not find a buyer or reasonable place for that calculator and probably end up keeping that, too.

So obviously I must be conscientious about my spending in coming weeks and months if I plan to buy anything.

"Sharks are immune to all known diseases"

Recent shark attacks in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of NJ prompted me to look up sharks a bit more. This is the scariest bit of info from the Wikipedia reference for sharks:

"Sharks are immune to all known diseases."

How can that be? Sharks are the scariest things on the planet.